Press release blog for Joyner Library

Category Archives: Dean’s Message

Dwain Teague and I had a wonderful time on the Joyner Library float in the Homecoming Parade. It was great to hear student, faculty and community shout-outs for Joyner along the route. And the Pirate victory over Tulsa made it a perfect day!

Congratulations to the Joyner Library faculty and staff who presented at the recent North Carolina Library Association conference and to those who were elected to offices. Their involvement is critical to the success of the Association and to achieving its mission of promoting libraries, library and information services, librarianship, intellectual freedom and literacy. Two faculty members’ multi-year contributions to the Association were recognized: Eleanor Cook received the Marilyn Miller Award for Professional Commitment, while Alan R. Bailey received the Roadbuilder’s Award (Academic Librarianship). Read more about Joyner’s involvement in the NCLA on pages 10-11. Congratulations also to Barry Munson who is now a four-time recipient of the North Carolina Society of Historians’ Willie Parker Peace History Award and to Fred Harrison and Arthur Carlson on the publication of their recent books.

Thanks to everyone who provided feedback during the Scopus database trial. That trial has now ended and a decision will be made within the next few weeks as to whether the ECU Libraries will subscribe to Scopus. Trials of three other databases are currently underway. Please visit the Database Trials page for more information.

Have you visited The ScholarShip recently? If not, take a look at the most recent additions which include articles and presentations by faculty as well as theses and dissertations completed by ECU graduates. The ScholarShip is a permanent repository for the scholarly output of ECU, and provides a persistent URL to point to your work. It is easy to upload your publications to The ScholarShip. For more information, please see The ScholarShip Deposit Process or contact us at scholarlycomm@ecu.edu.

This is the final issue of Joyner Library’s eNews for fall semester. On behalf of everyone at Joyner Library, I extend warm wishes for a wonderful holiday season.

As the academic year comes to an end, it is a good time to reflect on some of the happenings in Joyner Library.This year saw the opening of the Pirate CAVE in August and the renovation and grand opening of the Office for Faculty Excellence, the Office of the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), the University Writing Center, and the University Writing Program in May.When students and faculty return in the fall, there will be a new Starbucks in Joyner Library, an expanded study area, a state-of-the-art security station, and reconfigured staff space on first floor.These changes will help us provide a safe, secure 24/5 library space for ECU students, faculty and staff to enjoy beginning on August 20.We’ll have a new library instruction room (Room 1415) as well.We’ll expect to set a new record for monthly gate count, breaking the record of 113,979 people set in October.While group and individual study rooms, powerful computers, large monitors, whiteboards, and equipment available for check-out are part of the attraction, certainly our knowledgeable and helpful faculty and staff and our wealth of print and online resources that support student learning and faculty research are a large part of the attraction.We look forward to the 2013-2014 academic year bringing even stronger partnerships with the Office of the QEP, the Writing Center, Research & Graduate Studies, Student Affairs, the Student Government Association, and other groups as we continue to work together to make ECU the best institution in the region.

As I come to the end of my first year as Interim Dean, I want to thank a number of individuals and groups for the support they have given to me and to Joyner Library.Here are just a few of them:

The ECU Faculty Senate Libraries Committee

Provost Sheerer

The Friends of Joyner Library

The Joyner Library Advancement Council

Donors to Joyner Library

The wonderful staff and faculty of Joyner Library

I wish everyone a productive yet reinvigorating summer and look forward to seeing you in August.

The March newsletter is filled with articles that illustrate the many ways Joyner Library supports teaching, research and life-long learning. I want to focus on one area in this column: Joyner Library’s commitment to collaborative efforts to provide reliable access to high-quality information for the long term. Our decisions to join the SCOAP3 initiative and to create the Cold War and Internal Security (CWIS) Collection were based in part on our participation in the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL), a regional library consortium of 40 research, federal, and state libraries. As described in the column below, SCOAP 3 will create a means for supporting the production of open-access journals in the field of high-energy physics. ASERL passed a resolution in support of SCOAP3 in 2008 and is now coordinating members’ participation in this initiative.

ASERL has been exploring ways to enhance cooperative training, outreach, service and collection analysis and development activities to improve access to federal government information for the citizens in the region. All ASERL members who participate in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) have agreed to identify at least one agency / topic / format within their collections as a Center of Excellence. The ultimate goal is to identify Centers of Excellence necessary to establish, at minimum, two comprehensive FDLP collections in the region. The CWIS has been designated as a Center of Excellence and Joyner is committed to maintaining and providing access to this collection of primary source historical materials.

ASERL and many other library and educational organizations support the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research (FASTR) Act of 2013, which has been introduced in both houses of Congress. FASTR “require[s] federal agencies with annual extramural research budgets of $100 million or more to provide the public with online access to research manuscripts stemming from funded research no later than six months after publication in a peer‐reviewed journal.” FASTR would also require the content of the articles to be made available in electronic form for “productive reuse, including computational analysis” and includes provisions for long‐term archiving to ensure the information can be used by generations of future researchers, scientists, and citizens. With the approval of the Director of Federal Relations of the University of North Carolina, I have asked our Senators and Representatives to co-sponsor and support this important legislation.

Another way Joyner Library supports open access to information is through its digitization program. By adhering to best practices in digitizing materials, providing metadata to make them searchable and easy to find, and creating a user-friendly interface, Joyner Library adds to the body of high-quality information available to researchers anywhere. The Vietnam War resistance newspapers described below is just one example of the materials we provide in our Digital Collections.

I hope you enjoy this issue. As always, I invite you to contact me with any questions about the Library or suggestions for improvements by e-mail to lewisja@ecu.edu or by phone at 328-2267.

February is the month for love – epitomized by the art on display in the Faculty Art Show and the Valentine books featured in an exhibit in the Teaching Resources Center. It is also a fitting time to recognize the dedication of the staff and faculty in Joyner Library. I am proud to work every day with people who have a deep commitment to our shared mission of “connecting people to information and empowering their lifelong learning by developing robust collections, superior services, and people-friendly spaces.” Joyner Library employees who received the Treasured Pirate award in 2012 are listed in our February enewsletter. They represent nine departments and were recognized for very different contributions, ranging from the handling of fines to the digitization of collections. Their work, along with that of our other faculty and staff, often goes without recognition, but is critical to the success of the Library.

On a somber note, at the end of January, one of our staff members, Lynda Werdal, passed away following complications from surgery. We will treasure our memories of Lynda, including her sweet smile and her ability to always see the best in others. Lynda was a member of the Interlibrary Loan Services department and helped many faculty and students throughout the university who needed to use materials owned by other libraries. She was also the long-time advisor of Lutheran Student Ministry. She will be greatly missed.

Articles in this month’s e-newsletter describe several new services and resources. Features on a student’s donation of a lithograph to the North Carolina Collection and the Library’s involvement in the Lifelong Learning Program highlight the importance of personal connections. What better time than February to reflect on the importance of friendship, mentorship and reaching out to others? I hope you enjoy this issue. As always, I invite you to contact me with any questions about the Library or suggestions for improvements by e-mail to lewisja@ecu.edu or by phone at 328-2267.

As I write this column, I can see construction workers outside my window and hear the sounds of sawing and drilling. If you’ve been in Joyner Library recently, you’ve seen the grey construction wall near the entrance. In March, this wall will come down and the new areas for the Office for Faculty Excellence and the University Writing Center will be revealed. We’re looking forward to even stronger partnerships with these two groups when that occurs.

Joyner Library published its annual report in December. The report documents some of the ways the Library provides the foundation for student learning and faculty research as well as valuable cultural and educational opportunities for the ECU community and the region. Please contact Dawn Wainwright (wainwrightd@ecu.edu) if you’d like a print copy of the report. The report is also accessible here. And, of course, there is always something new at Joyner. I hope that you’ll find the current exhibits, upcoming events, database trials, and services described in this month’s newsletter of interest and that we’ll see you in Joyner soon.

One of my favorite parts of my job is talking to faculty, staff and students about how the Library can continue to improve its collections, services, and spaces. I invite you to be part of the conversation by contacting me by phone (328-2267), e-mail (lewisja@ecu.edu) or in person. I hope you have a productive and fulfilling spring semester.

GREENVILLE, N.C. (12/3/2012) – Joyner Library at East Carolina Universitycelebrated the opening reception and award ceremony for the 5th Annual Graduate Student Art and Design Exhibition on November 15th.

This exhibition, held every fall semester, showcases the talent and hard work of ECU graduate students and provides an inspirational learning environment for all students, faculty, and library patrons. Cash awards were given, with one funded by the Friends of Joyner Library to add original art to the Library’s permanent collection. Diverse works include paintings and drawings, textile and metal designs, sculpture, photography, pottery, and more.

“The works by the 17 artists participating in this year’s exhibition are inspiring, creative, and thought-provoking. Joyner Library is excited to host this exhibit and to provide an opportunity for the artists to share their talent with the community and to be recognized for their work,” says Jan Lewis, interim dean of Academic Library & Learning Resources.

C. Barbour Strickland III served as this year’s juror. With more than 30 years of experience in N.C. arts, Strickland is the owner of FrameMakers, Strickland Art Resources & Gallery, and The Arts Connection website. He is the former art director of the Greenville Museum of Art and currently serves on boards of art organizations statewide, including as president of the Friends of ECU’s School of Art and Design.

The exhibit runs through January 15, 2013 and is located in the exhibit gallery on the second floor of the library. The exhibit viewing is free and open to the public.

In 1931, S.R. Ranganathan, a professor of library science and university librarian in India, shared his five simple laws of library science:
1. Books are for use.
2. Every reader his [or her] book.
3. Every book its reader.
4. Save the time of the reader.
5. The library is a growing organism.

These laws have been updated and restated over the years to take into account various types of materials, formats and methods of access and are the basis of a
philosophical framework that has been applied successfully in complex and problematic situations.

As I reviewed this month’s eNewsletter, I realized that many of the articles are directly tied to Ranganathan’s fourth law: Joyner Library’s services save the time
of the reader or library user. This translates into increased productivity, efficiency, and value for ECU faculty, staff and students.

I hope that the services featured in the eNewsletter will be helpful to you. There is something for
everyone – whether you use microfilm, Teaching Resources
Center bibliographies, the online Chronicle of Higher Education, or all three, and whether you need copyright, IT, Interlibrary Loan, or Research and Instructional Services assistance. Our faculty and staff are
here to help. Please contact us with your suggestions for new services that would assist you or to make suggestions for improvements to existing services.

On December 4 at 10:00am, the Michael F. Bassman
Honors Thesis Award will be presented to an Honors College
student. We’re proud to host this event that recognize and
reward student creativity and

The articles in this month’s e-newsletter highlight two themes central to Joyner Library’s mission: collaboration and support for teaching and research at the
university. Collaboration with area schools and museums, other libraries, and academic
departments at ECU results in stronger services and programs that meet user expectations, provide cultural opportunities, and enrich learning. Recognizing student
excellence in research and writing through the Rhem/Schwarzmann, Michael F. Bassman Honors Thesis, and W. Keats Sparrow Writing Awards are important ways
the Library reinforces the critical connections between the classroom and the Library.
The Faculty Book Awards are a great way to honor faculty for their contributions
to scholarship. All of these endeavors are supported by the information resources and
infrastructure provided collaboratively by Joyner and Laupus Libraries. A new
search widget, improvements to the Classic Catalog, and the new ECU Libraries landing
page are featured this month. I hope to see you at the Ninth Annual Eastern North Carolina Literary Homecoming. This year’s event, with the theme “Litflix: Adapting North
Carolina Literature into Film” and featuring numerous award-winning authors, is sure
to attract readers of quality literature as well as film buffs. I look forward to talking to
faculty and students about how the Library can continue to improve its collections,
services, and spaces. I invite you to be part of the conversation by contacting
me by phone (328-2267), e-mail or in person.

Welcome back for Fall semester. There have been a number of changes at Joyner Library over the summer and more are on the way. Most importantly, Dean Larry Boyer retired on July 31. He and his wife Sue have an exciting year of travel planned in the U.S., Mexico, Ecuador and Italy; we wish them safe travels accompanied by plenty of excellent adventures.

At the request of Provost Sheerer, I will be interim dean. I look forward to leading the dedicated faculty and staff in Joyner Library in fulfilling the mission of the Library: “We connect people to information and empower their lifelong learning by developing robust collections, superior services, and people-friendly spaces.” As you will read in this newsletter, we have acquired some wonderful online collections and journal back files that add to the robustness of our collections. These purchases were made possible by end-of-year funds from the Division of Academic Affairs. The acquisition of the second installment of the Stuart Wright Collection and major donations to our Manuscript Collection and Music Library in recent months also enriched the collections we provide.

The most visible change to services is the new Circulation Desk near the Library entrance. We had to wait a long time, but we think it was worth it. The new desk provides greater visibility and facilitates patron/staff interactions. Be sure to try out the self-checkout machine now located at the desk. An area for returning items – something I and other patrons missed when it was removed several years ago – will be added soon.

The 2011 faculty survey results showed that the most desired new/expanded service is integration of library resources in Blackboard. We’ve worked over the summer to develop new ways of embedding resources in Blackboard. If you’re interested in learning more, please contact Katy Kavanagh at kavanaghk@ecu.edu.

Changes to our space include the construction of the Pirate CAVE Math 1065 Lab. We are happy to be a partner in this critical student retention and success initiative. To make room for the Pirate CAVE, we relocated microform reader/printers to a semi-enclosed space that will provide a quiet environment for their use and consolidated microform materials in fewer cabinets. Our Government

Documents/Microforms staff and processing areas are in the process of moving to a space closer to the basement stairs. This summer, we dedicated an important space in the library — the Betty Debnam Hunt Instructional Technology Classroom in the Teaching Resources Center. It was an honor to meet Mrs. Hunt, the creator of “The Mini-Page,” and celebrate her contributions to family literacy and education.

I’m anticipating a busy and exciting year at Joyner Library and look forward to talking to faculty and students about how the Library can continue to improve its collections, services, and spaces. I invite you to be part of the conversation by contacting me by phone (328-2267), e-mail (lewisja@ecu.edu) or in person.

GREENVILLE, N.C. (Aug. 3, 2012) – Joyner Library at East Carolina University has launched a fundraising campaign to raise $150,000 towards a $275,000 renovation project that will provide a gallery space to host exhibitions, seminars, conferences and receptions for events such as scholarship recipients.

The new gallery will be named in honor of Janice Hardison Faulkner, a distinguished public servant and former university faculty member and administrator.

When the newly formed Joyner Library Advancement Council discussed its inaugural fundraising effort, the group wanted a project that would reflect the mission of the university and the library by “providing cultural enrichments and powerful inspiration as we work to sustain and improve the quality of life.”

Harry Stubbs IV, chair of the council, and Dr. Michael Priddy, chair of the council’s fundraising committee, created a plan to honor community leader and outstanding alumna Faulkner by renovating a portion of the library’s second floor creating the Janice Hardison Faulkner Gallery.

After a notable tenure at ECU as a Department of English faculty member and university administrator, Faulkner became a well-known and highly respected participant in state politics and government. She served as former North Carolina secretary of revenue, secretary of state and commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Since her retirement from state government in 2001, she has served on multiple ECU boards, including the University Foundation and was founding chair of the ECU Women’s Roundtable.

The university honored Faulkner in 2009 with its highest service award – the Thomas Jordan Jarvis Medal.

“Joyner Library strives to provide an enriched environment for scholarship, collaboration and socializing,” said Jan Lewis, interim dean of Academic Library Services. “We appreciate the opportunity to showcase the talents and hard work of East Carolina’s students and faculty while giving the community another opportunity to experience art, culture, history and connection. The library was thrilled to receive the fundraising proposal to create a venue that promotes our mission and honor Ms. Faulkner.”

The Janice Hardison Faulkner Gallery will create a space that can host as many as 150 attendees while providing exhibition lighting and the latest in audio/visual presentation technology. It will also serve as a student study area.

“Janice Hardison Faulkner has served our university and state with grace and honor. This special place will be a fitting tribute to an outstanding citizen and I am pleased to be a participant in this endeavor,” said Dr. Michael Priddy, fundraising chair and former superintendent for Pitt County Schools.

Campaign officials finalized the architectural plans in June with a glass donors’ plaque on display at the gallery’s entrance. As of mid-August, more than $67,000 had been pledged to the project. The library will allocate $125,000 from the Verona Joyner Langford Endowment at the close of fundraising efforts.

For information on this project or Joyner Library, contact Dawn Wainwright at 252.328.4090 or wainwrightd@ecu.edu.